Who is she?

A 21-year-old actor from ­California, who took a knock before getting her big break.

What happened?

She was all set for scriptwriter Diablo Cody's multiple-­personality TV comedy, The United States of Tara, but got bumped after the ­pilot. "They were looking for a darker take on it," says the magnanimous Ms Doubleday.

That's cold.

That's showbiz, whose vicissitudes she knows only too well. Both her parents are actors. And her big break proper was just around the corner. She landed the role of high school femme ­fatale to Michael Cera's reedy-voiced nerd in his pet project, Youth in Revolt, which is out today.

Youth in Revolt. So the kids rise up against the baby-boomers?

Not quite. It's this year's wisecracking indie, based on CD Payne's novel. Doubleday is Sheeni, a teenage siren with a Belmondo fixation. She lures Cera into ­mischief and crime. He invents a cool ­alter ego with a Riviera moustache, François Dillinger.

What next?

Another high school indie, Touchback. Plus finishing college, she's studying psychology. Working with Tim Burton would be a bonus: she "would drop dead for Helena Bonham Carter's parts".